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Buffy / Angel question (1 Viewer)

Burn Rourk

Agent
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Oct 25, 2004
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Sorry, no such thing as a bad season of 'Buffy' or 'Angel'. Some seasons may be better than others, but none could be considered bad television by any stretch.
 

Dax P

Stunt Coordinator
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Apr 30, 2003
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230
For me:

Buffy 7 is my least favorite of all twelve Buffy/Angel seasons.

Buffy 6's bad rap is undeserved. Ditto, Buffy 4.

The first seasons of both shows show great potential, but it's not realized in full until their seconds...

Angel probably got better with every year... 4 does have its problems, but I definitely didn't 'hate' it. 5 was great fun, but a big bummer that 6 didn't/doesn't follow it...
 

Eddy-C

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Messages
549
From best to worst:

Buffy season 5, season 3, season 2, season 4 and season 6 are tied, season 1, season 7. Season 5 is when the show peaked IMO. Season 6 is ok but it drags alot and I have alot of hatred for Season 7, but theres a few good episodes so I'll buy it.

Angel Season 4, Season 2, Season 5, Season 3, Season 1.Season 5 started too slow but picked up at the end and was great. Season 3 has alot of clunkers in the middle but the beginning and end is awesome. Season 1 has too many stand-alones but the character interaction is great between the cast members. I think Angel had enough life in it for a season 6 so I think it went out on top unlike Buffy.
 

Scott Kimball

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Funny how widely opinions vary on Buffy / Angel seasons.

My Buffy order of preference:
3, 2, 5, 4, 1, 6, 7

Some people say season 6 was horrible, but I say it had enough going for it to make it a good season. I liked:
Once More With Feeling
Tabula Rasa
Normal Again
Seeing Red
Villains
Two to Go
Grave

Season 4's season arc was weak, but it is home to some great standalone episodes:
Living Conditions
The Harsh Light of Day
Fear, Itself
Wild at Heart
Hush
A New Man

My Angel order of preference:
3, 2, 1, 5, 4

I find it interesting that my least favorite seasons of each show occurred during the same year, and they both suffered from the same problem. Season 4 of Angel, running concurrently with Season 7 of Buffy, both favored the long story arc over coherent, individual episodes. Don't get me wrong - I love the season arcs. The problem is that too much energy was focused on the season structure, and too little on making engaging episodes that made sense on their own.

Angel Season 4 really turned me off with the pedophilic and quasi-incestuous relationship between Cordy and Connor,
as well. Had it not been for that, I could have appreciated the season much more. The "eww" factor was much too high.

-Scott
 

JohnSmith

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 8, 2003
Messages
554
I can't believe anyone would think Season 6 of Buffy is anything but terrible. Granted it had the thing with Willow, but the Geeks just totally ruined it. Every episode they were in it I was just hoping Faith would turn up and mash them to bits :-D


From what I remember Cordy was Conner's Nanny? She wasn't related to Conner, so it wasn't incest. However if Cordy and Jasmine had a lesbian scene it would be. Also Conner's age is far from Paeodillhic (around 15-17?)
 

MarkHarrison

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 14, 2002
Messages
597


I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't give up a single set or either show from my collection. And the fact that opinions on what's good and what's bad are so varied, just shows me that the show as a whole is good. Just because a bunch of people don't care for one particular season, doesn't mean it was a bad season.

To the original poster, I think you should check out Angel as well as Buffy. I personally enjoy Angel more (only slightly), but they're both some of the best TV I've seen.
 

Ray H

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Season 3 is my favorite season. Though in afterthought, there was quite a bit of junk and filler in there. But the arc eith Wesley, Darla, Connor, and Holtz is just amazing. I feel it's the richest of all the seasons as far as themes and story go.

I'd rank 'em like this:

Buffy:
3, 5, 2, 1, 7, and I haven't seen buch of 6

Angel:
3, 2/5, 4, 1 Season 2 and 5 are a toss up to me. Both have their fair share of filler but they both have some amazing episodes too.
 

Chuck Mayer

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Ranking, are we?????

Buffy:
2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 6, 7

Angel:
3, 2, 1, 4, 5

Every season has GREAT shows. Most seasons have a few lame episodes. None are terrible all of the way through. A few are brilliant :D

Buffy S2 is the best TV I've ever seen, once it gets going. Brilliant stuff. Best villain evAR ;)

Take care,
Chuck
 

Kyle**S

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
51
My rankings (best-to-worst):

Buffy: 2, 6, 1, 3, 5, 4, 7

Angel: 5, 3, 1, 2, 4

The only Mutant Enemy season that I feel is significantly below the others in quality is BtVS season 7.
 

John McM

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
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352
am I the only person in here who actually considers Buffy the superior show? Don't get me wrong, I like Angel, but their episodes IMO are good to watch once, but even Buffy's bad episodes have things to redeem and make me watch it again. I've seen every episode at least twice and cannot wait until season 7 comes out in three weeks so I can have the whole series.
 

Matt Stone

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I think both shows are very reachable, but I prefer Angel. The best episodes of Buffy (OMWF, Hush, The Gift, etc) are mostly better than the best of Angel...but for the most part I think Angel is consistently good. There are less "bad" episodes of Angel than Buffy. The ensemble always felt stable on Angel, even when they were going through tough times (season 3, 4), but the ensemble on Buffy deteriorated sometime during season 5. Xander was marginalized for the final two seasons, and Willow was destroyed for a lot of season 6 and 7. That's not to say there weren't good episodes, I just think Angel was more consistent.
 

Matt Stone

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BTW...my rankings (best to worst). The only season that I thought was "bad" television was Buffy S7.

Buffy - 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 1, 7 (Seasons 3, 5, and 2 are pretty equal in my opinion)

Angel - 4, 5, 3, 2, 1 (Seasons 4, 5, and 3 are pretty equal as well, IMO)
 

Eddy-C

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Messages
549
I can find more favorite episodes of Buffy than I do Angel. With Angel its hard for me to pick a favorite episode, because I see it as favorite storylines/arcs. Angel had the better arcs(some that stretch over muliple seasons) while Buffy has the episodes that stick out more.(hush,restless,omwf, etc.)
 

Andy Sheets

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No, I definitely prefer Buffy over Angel. Buffy had a horribly regrettable decline over its last couple of seasons (and even then, IMO its first three seasons were its best), but when it was good, it was a classic. Angel always struck me as a pretty cool tv show, certainly better than most of what was on and it made some interesting contributions to the "Buffyverse", but still never quite hit the heights that Buffy did when it was really kicking ass. I have an enjoyable time when I watch Angel episodes, but when I watch Buffy I really get into it :)
 

Eric C D

Second Unit
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Mar 14, 2001
Messages
285
I thought I’d do an completely-integrated ME ranking:

B2, F0.5 :), B3, ... A3, B5, B4, A2, A1, A5, B6, … B7, … A4

Which should also answer this one's thoughts on whether A or B was superior. But I have to admit that at the conclusion of B, I was actually willing to do a top-ten episode list - something I was never quite moved to do for A.

FWIW, I place the first three seasons on my my list head-n-shoulders (does that get auto-linked to a website like other words in our posts?, hmmm.) above the remainder. The middle group are fairly close, each having definite things to appreciate (and chortle at!). All of those are still among the most enjoyable shows I've seen. Re the last two: B7 I was disappointed in, A4 I was actually angry at!

Bring on the BDM! (don't ya just love abbreviations! :))
 

Holadem

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I can't remember Angel's episode names for the life of me. I don't think they display them at the begining of the eps like in Buffy. Also, again, the show in S2 seems much more serialized, making it diffucult to pin point standout eps.

Also on Buffy, I don't fully understand the superlatives lavished onto OMWF. Sure, it's extremely original, and is a key episode, but I nothing much was happening in the season at that point to provide a bigger dramatic impact. It's certainly not in my top 10.

Hush's impact was greater (Riley - Buffy), and was just as original.

My netflix discs for the second half of Angel S2 should be ther when I get home. Wohoooo! :emoji_thumbsup:

--
H
 

Scott_F_S

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 15, 2002
Messages
408
It's pretty amazing the wildly divergent opinions of Angel S3 and S4. Some rank them as brilliant, others as weak.

But I have to agree with a previous poster. I found S3 fairly tedious, especially the second half. I just couldn't get into the storyline, and I recall while watching it for the first time (on DVD) just being anxious for it to end finally.

But S4 to me is awesome. I have a couple of problems with it -- didn't much care for the ultraserious Cordelia. And the overall focus shifted noticeably to the ensemble as opposed to having Angel front and center most of the time. The title of the show in this season could easily have been "Angel Investigations" instead of just "Angel."

But the tone and the feel of the show in this season makes it seem like one continuous, long movie, and I enjoyed that. It seemed like the writing and directing staff was particularly aiming at something higher than a weekly TV show. The pace was slowed down a bit and the landscape became much bigger. There were some misfires, but I think they hit their target for the most part.

I did enjoy for once having a ME season where the main story arc wasn't constantly being interrupted by an unrelated standalone ep. Not saying that I would have wanted that all the time in every season of Buffy and Angel, but it was refreshing to have that for a change of pace.

I think that if there ever is a theatrical movie made from Buffy or Angel, it would probably be most comparable to Angel S4 than any other Buffyverse season.
 

Eric C D

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 14, 2001
Messages
285


It's my #2 episode (with Hush being #4). I separate the episodes from the seasons I guess. Heck, I even had one top ten episode from season 7 (Conversations with Dead People).

Guess I'll delve back into what I wrote about OMWF at the time:

"Also a specialty show like Hush, but in it’s own league. I needed to dig a hole to increase the space into which my jaw could drop. However, so much of the season 6 was manipulated to bring the right moments together here that maybe the rest of the season suffered because of it. Unlike The Body [my #5], which had nothing to do with the Buffyverse, this had everything to do with it. Final note: if the songs weren’t so dang catchy, it wouldn’t have crept past The Prom [my #3] into my #2."

But I like top ten lists as a way to just discuss things, and I always feel free to change them day-to-day. And I know there are eps on my list that don't match conventional wisdom, meaning I had to leave others off. Finally, this is coming from someone with the OMWF soundtrack on CD, so take it for every bit it's not worth. :D
 

Eric C D

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 14, 2001
Messages
285
Whoops, meant to add the following too:

Interestingly, I thought most of the drama from S6 was piled into that episode: (spoilers for those who don't want to know)


Giles deciding to leave. Willow and Tara breaking up. Scoobies finding out the B had not been rescued from hell.



But still note that I consider the overall season the second worse of BtVS, so I'm not disuputing your putting it down because of the lack of overall drama in the season.

But the songs are just so dang catchy! ;)
 

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